Handling yourself in your vehicle.

This is a discussion on Handling yourself in your vehicle. within the Carry & Defensive Scenarios forums, part of the Defensive Carry Discussions category; One of the reasons i have started to carry is because of the this disease I must have that invites morons to try and provoke ...

Handling yourself in your vehicle.

One of the reasons i have started to carry is because of the this disease I must have that invites morons to try and provoke me to anger. I am a preacher and took a cussin for simple existence today and was threatened that he would move my vehicle forcibly with his for pulling up behind him. Guess he needed an ENIMA. Well I was at a sporting event{no carry} My sons little league game. I remained in my vehicle and spoke politely , yes sir, no sir, I apoligize. This was hard for even a preacher. All that smooching gets to anyone. Well here is the question. How much would you take in front of your family? Kind of hard to be made to look cowardly.

1.Personally I would have told him once(maybe twice) nicely to refrain from speaking to me that way. ( Sir please do not talk to me in that manner and please don't threaten me. I am with my family and do not want trouble).

2.If he continued I would inform him that anymore threats would be reported to the police. ( Sir if you continue to harrass me and threaten me I will call the police).

3.If it continued I WOULD have called the police. (Of course I would attempt to try to leave put and end to it).

4.If he tried to put his hands on me I would have been within my rights to defend my self and would have thrown him a beating all the while yelling sir please stop. When he stopped so would I.
( Sir please don't. I will defend myself.(if he persisted it would be) Sir please stop! Sir please stop!(while I was "defending myself").

I know this may sound a little adolecent and full of testosterone but as you said you were unarmed. I don't like hurting anyone but I refuse to allow anyone to put thier hands on me in a harmful manner. Period.

If I was armed and something like this occured I would have done the first three things I said and if he continued I would have retreated till I ran out of room to do so to buy time for the police to arrive. Even at that point though I would still defend myself if he got close enough to put his hands on me and indeed tried.

“You come at me with a sword and with a spear. But I come at you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you". 1 Samuel 17, 45-46Brian

Best thing an armed person can do: learn how to act. Go for an academy award. In all seriousness, a little deviousness on your part will enforce the agressor's sense of control, de-escalate things from the agressor's perspective, and likely make it easier for you to deal a little pain, if need be.

Just be sure to cultivate the combative-mindset- when you're adjusting your spectacles, looking at him in wide-eyed surprise, you should be tinking about where you're going to stick him, or calculating the movements of his head, if he swings for you, so that you can get that temple-shot with your bottle-opener key ring. Get in touch with your inner Beast, but keep it on a 1" leash.

I don't wish to offend anyone, but frankly if you are worried about looking like a coward then I don't think you should be carrying a gun.

When you are carrying, anything at all that you do to either initiate or escalate a conflict will only serve to make the prosecutor's job easier if he decides to come after you for manslaughter. That means that sometime you have to MAKE yourself look like a coward. That means that sometimes you have to deliberately ACT like a coward. As Rob72 points out, it is only an act, but it is how you MUST, sometimes, act. You have to leave all of the initiation and escalation to the other guy. That means absolutely no macho bluster. And sometimes that may mean that you have to back down, and back down again, and keep backing down until you can't back down anymore.

If your fears of looking cowardly are going to prevent you from doing that then you need to think long and hard about carrying a gun.

Yeah, me too. Sometimes it takes a superhuman effort to ignore a moron who truly deserves an attitude adjustment, but when you're carrying a gun, you have to do it. I just grit my teeth, count to ten, and move on. Besides, if I retaliated by doing something just as stupid, my wife would slap me silly!

It can be really hard to back down, because the other person is being such a moron and in the wrong that you want to "put him in his place."

You want to put him back in his place because if he gets away with it, he'll get even cockier and do worse to somebody else, but if you escalate, you could very well end up having to shoot him in self-defense and get in enormous legal trouble because you didn't avoid and de-escalate what was originally a small situation.

It's hard being the better person, but at this point I've learned to swallow my pride and try to keep cool. He who runs away lives to fight another day. And just for you, preachertim, "Love Thy Idiot."

Being a preacher, I suppose you can have some solace in the knowledge that there's Somebody Else to put him in his place when the time comes.

thanks guys for the help. great advice rob72. I am not worried about looking cowardly as much as I wonder why me. No it is not worth killin but i am trying to learn while these type things are fresh in my mind. What is the definition of Insanity, doing the same thing repeatedly epecting different results. thanks again for the advice.